ONE OF THE PLACES Barbadians head to on weekends for tasty barbecued pigtails, burgers and grilled meats is in The Ivy, St Michael.
A short distance above “Brekneck Hill” is a small eatery called Woody’s Pigtail Stop. The owner is Henderson Harewood, ably assisted by his wife Ester and “right hand man” Wendell.
Hard work and sheer dedication over the past three years have helped him to develop the Stop into a very popular spot.
Hard work has been nothing new for Harewood, affectionately known as Hendy, having spent nine years in the United States Navy, six in the Gulf War.
“Being that I have that military background and my mind is conditioned to do things and get things done, it worked out or I made it work,” he told the DAILY NATION.
Though Hendy doesn’t present a long resumé in the food business, some consider him and Wendell geniuses on the grill. He is known to sear his meat just right.
A father of two daughters, most of Hendy’s experience with food came while in the Navy and side by side with his mother Jeena in the kitchen.
In 1975, at the tender age of seven, he and his family moved to the United States. In 1997, he took early retirement from the Navy and after his father relocated to Canada from Barbados two years later and left a vacant property, Hendy decided to return home permanently.
He had a number of jobs before settling at the Atlantis Submarine where he worked for six years as a co-pilot. During his time there, the now 48-year-old was a finalist on two consecutive occasions (2008 and 2009) for the Barbados Tourism Award’s Achievement in Excellence.
A few years back he decided to move away from that job to another, but soon thereafter he was laid off – and with a home and family to support.
“One day I sat with my wife and told her I needed to do something and so because I had experience with food, I decided to go that route. I put a little sign up saying ‘Pigtails for $5’ and I started from there doing pigtails from the gallery. And I just progressed and started stepping up and it started to work out very well.
The people loved it and they kept coming and kept coming. So I went on to do burgers and chips, then I went to chicken and now I’m up to fish. I’m doing all the meats on the grill and [I] only fry the chips,” he said.
Business growing
The business has been growing.
Hendy and his wife pride themselves on providing everything fresh, even their chips and barbecue sauce. So everything is prepared the night and day before each serving. Every Thursday, they spend about an hour peeling at least a sack of potatoes and on Saturday afternoons another half-sack.
“We are always fresh. We sell all night and go until we sell out. We do to order and don’t put anything down; everything is made before their [customers’] eyes. I like the grill. Grilling is a much healthier way to eat but like everything you have to do it in moderation.”
As for his barbecue sauce, he said it was a treasured family recipe gifted to him by his mum when he opened the eatery, so he was holding the “secret” ingredients close to his chest.
“I can’t say the business compares to being in the Gulf War – that was an experience for me since not many people would have gone – but starting a business and hoping it succeeds was a major and sometimes daunting task.
“Luckily, I had my wife and Wendell, who was actually my very first customer and never left my side since, but it was a bit of a challenge in the beginning but things started to smoothen out,” he added.
What’s next for Woody’s? Well, Hendy wants to package and sell his barbecue sauce and expand the business.
“I think by leaving the gallery and moving to the driveway was that start. I don’t know how big it can grow but as long as people continue to come, we will see. And since there is a demand for our sauce, then packaging it in the future is something that we are seriously thinking about,” he said. (SDB Media)